Recent content by Ultramagnetic

You're too kind. Of course not. I don't think that's possible but I you'll be relieved to hear you lot have bullied me into prioritising paying off my mortgage. It does, thanks. And may I add that I feel most houred that after 11 years of lurking on this grand forum your chose my thread...

Now this is the kind of what I had in mind when I came to this thread, is there a way that a person of average intelligence with some time and dedication is able to do better than buy and hold without risking the shirt on their back. But of course if it there is some kind of repeatable method...

Oh and Alexaherself. In light of this thread perhaps gambling on the government maintaining a favourable attitude towards absentee landlords is no less crazy than putting my money in the stock market.

To clarify, I am not interested in "trading", I am not going to gamble my pension savings away. So 10% is not possible, I see now. Thanks for all the replies. Especially you Tim, that was useful.

I did the sums, and as I suspected a 4% return on my investments per year will produce profits equal to the saving I would make on my mortgage. Anything returning over 4% makes investing the rational decision.

Millions of people have zero investment experience and save for retirement. It doesn't take brain surgery experience to pump money into an ETF each month. You seem to think so. I don't, for reasons I mentioned. Interest rates are very low btw, you must have noticed. The returns on investment...

Thanks Tim. Yes I did say I favour more liquid investments, but I can't live in my liquid assets :). I don't care what my house is worth in 15 years, it will be a rent free place to live. That being said I have considered what you suggest. If I diverted my pension saving into my mortgage I...

Sooner if I can convince my misses to move out of London

Yes I am aware. My mortgage will be paid off in 15 years. I have no other debt. Thanks.

Actually I see the problem with this approach. With pound cost averaging you will sometimes be buying at a market high, but also sometimes at a low and it averages out. With the above I will never really be buying the lows, just a little bit off the highs.

Apparently the average size of a market correction is +/-13% (just read somewhere). So I could have a rule -> buy if the market has declined 10%. Too simple? I could also put aside +/-10% of my money for a speculative punt that commodities are cheap and have to recover at some point over the...

Makes me sound like a gambler.

I was also thinking along the lines of commodities/mining companies. I need to take some risk to meet my needs, that goes without saying. Would it be crazy to buy a commodities or mining ETF on the basis I there will be another commodities boom in the next 18 years? $200 oil maybe? The worlds...

Yes I have though about this, it may be an option.

No, that does not interest me =), but thanks for the info. I appreciate where you are coming from. I currently have my money in cash. Originally I was thinking "you can't time the market" and just put it into the Vangaurd Lifestrategy 80, but couldn't bring myself to do it with the market...